Move along nothing to see here, we should continue to operate knowing that the revs will be starting 11 rookies they drafted from wake forest plus paulo dos santos. Keep in mind, this will not count as a signing if you are keeping score. The Revs FO should have signed players 5 years ago.
Perovic should supply some much-needed width. Looks like he also might provide some defensive cover if the team makes the nightmare choice to play Chris Tierney at left back (still don't know what Nicol sees in that guy).
I can confirm that there has been a lot of talk about how the Revs never "get players like that", and now that we have a pretty solid lead to talk about, the topic starts sliding down the list. That seems odd to me. Now that he is probably here, I would expect to see some heated analysis about where to best use him, whether he pushes Mansally to the bench, whether he plays AM or whether he will be a crosser or a scorer. Where is all that analysis, or is it coming with the start of real games? I sure hope so, because with Desire, Gibbs, Perovic and Schilawski, there seems to be a lot of room for speculation/pontification/bloviating and otherwise opinionating. I think we need an AM more than another LM, and would love to see him play there with Shalrie at his back. But Stevie seems to like Shalrie in a sort-of AM role. Not to take anything away from him, but I hate to see him not playing DM!
Its Possible that Nicol goes to a 3-5-2. I don't see a 4-5-1 with the forwards we have. If Gibbs can stay healthy, Alston, Barnes, Gibbs could be possible .............................................Burpo the clown.... ...........Alston.......................Barnes.....................Gibbs ...........................SJ..........................Niouky Nyassi..........................Perovic.............................Mansally ................Dube.........................Schill
The idea of him being an AM makes sense to me, question is, what formation does he he fit into? Is Nicol confident enough in either Osei or Barnes to go with a three man back line, or does he stick with the 4-4-2 and bench the, well, whoever.
There's no way we go 3 in the back. It doesn't fit the personnel. Alston is ATM the Revs' second best player and a 3 man backline would reduce his strengths considerably and mitigate his ability to play out wide (both offensively and defensively). In addition, you'd wind up sitting a strong central defender AND ask a young player (Barnes) to learn a new position/ anchor a 3 man backline on his own. Not a good idea. This team is playing 4 in the back.
So, FDA's blog post never materialized. I'm starting to get a little nervous about this actually happening.
The Revs have to wait til 2 out of the 3 criteria are done for them to officially announce this. Considering his blog post was 2 days you should give them a bit of time. "The Revolution's signing of Serbian midfielder Marko Perovic could be concluded this week, according to a team source. Perovic will not be available for the season-opener at Los Angeles Saturday night but the Revolution are hoping to have Perovic signed before the home-opener against FC Toronto April."
I agree. Osei doesn't have the size and Barnes doesn't have the ability to be a lone centerback (the few times he got isolated, he got tied in knots). Together they work pretty well.
One thing about our backline is that they are fast. On that basis, a three man backline used opportunistically against the right team in the right situation should be included. I would like to see the team practice that formation and try it once in a while. We have to take advantage of our strengths tactically as the situation demands to go far this year. Osei can play CB against the right player with cover coming back on corners.
Parkhurst had neither size, speed, or great one-on-one defending skills, but he made a darn good centerback in a 3-man line. Quite frankly, I think Nicol would base the decision on whether he thought he had 3 defenders tactically aware enough to play in a 3-man back line, and on whether it enhanced his chance of winning with the midfield options he had.
we can't play a 3 or four man back line. that is old and backwards thinking. the new formation is going to be more innovative and use lateral thinking to get us an advantage. instead of viewing formations vertically, we will be playing a stacked lateral formation - 6 left mids, a keeper a defesive mid playing centerback and 2 defensive mids playing forward.
Forcing Kevin Alston (one of your best players) to play as part of a three man backline takes him away from his best asset to the team, his ability to get forward.
heaps did not do a bad job getting forward when he played right back in a 3-5-2. The results were not always great but he managed. Alston is everybit of an athlete that Heaps was and faster
Maybe a three-man backline doesn't include Alston. Maybe gets time further up the field. I'm with firstshirt, though. I think he could play well there and would still be able to get forward some, but not as much, or as deep, as he would in a four-man line. I'm not advocating for a 352, just considering what might entice Nicol to try it out. I also wouldn't be surprised to see it from time-to-time, even if just late in games that we trail. One of the things I like most about Nicol is that he doesn't have an alignment that he forces the team into. He'll adapt to whatever his personnel are best suited to play.
My impression of Steve is that he does not innovate (I don't count putting Shalrie in front after losing ## games in a row). He is not a guy I pick to try this formation, but it seems a waste to keep a player with Allston's qaulity on our 18 all game. Plus Osei has very good distribution skills. I actually am a big fan of his skill on the ball and positioning.
Nicol has played at least 3 distinct formations since he's been here and fiddled, when necessary, with another 1 or 2. We played a 352 almost the entire time Parkhurst was here and we scored a lot of goals. He has a system, if you call it that, that requires his players to play with discipline and shape in the back, but the formation is really up to how he can get his best 11 on the field most successfully. What he is not is a tinkerer. I like Osei a lot as a tough nosed defender, but he's a bit of a loose cannon at times and can be a cross between Mauricio Wright and Avery John. I don't see him being the organizing/calming force in the center of a 3-man backline. That would likely be Barnes or Gibbs. I don't think we'll see a 3-man line before May, at any rate. And to get back toward the topic, it remains to be seen whether Perovic can supply what we would need as an AM in a 352, so this whole discussion may be mute (unless Videira or Colaluca can fit this role well enough to justify changing alignments).
I hope you are right about Steve. After this discussion, you start to think our starting 11 may not be too bad. We'll find out Saturday.
The key is the bolded statement. Our midfield at that point was so strong, he played the formation that let him have the most of that position out there.